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1/26/2018

NESG CANVASSES REFORMS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND HEALTHCARE

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group
(NESG) has said reforms in key sectors of the economy, accompanied by

strategic
investments, are necessary to improve quality of life and obtain better
educational outcome.

The group stated this in its 2018
Macroeconomic Outlook titled: “Will Nigeria’s growth be inclusive in 2018 and
beyond?”

It indicated that development of
human capabilities, access to quality education and healthcare are basic rights
of citizens.

The NESG advised that government
policies should be tailored to significantly support both sectors to improve
standard of living in the country. “The relevance of education remains unclear,
as it is apparent that the educational system is raising graduates that find it
difficult to fit into the workplace, even as innovation and entrepreneurship
learning are not picking up as expected.

“Healthcare in Nigeria is in a
dire strait; this is evident in the high infant and under-five mortality rate.”

According to NESG, growth in
population, which is expected to reach 399 million by 2050, will increase the
demand for jobs and social services.

It indicated that there was an
urgent need to up-scale job creation to salvage current unemployment and
underemployment situation.

The group revealed that the
social sector could help in filling the job gap through skills development to
boost productivity and reduce number of unemployed citizens.

It indicated that government
spending and urgent reforms must support the development of the social sectors
to improve literacy rates; learning outcomes; access to quality health
education and gender equality.

“ Interestingly, the Economic
Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) recognises the importance of developing these
sectors and outlines several reforms to be implemented by the government.”

The NESG also recommended the
provision of socio-economic data to measure progress recorded in the country.
“The government should provide frequent and timely data on poverty, learning
outconmes, out-of-school, mortality rates, unemployment rates to track Nigeria’s
performance on improving quality of life,”it said.

It also suggested the enactment
of a national skills development policy and programme to address skills and
capability challenges across all sectors in Nigeria.

“In the light of this, we propose
that the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) needs to be reviewed and implemented
to encourage synergies between the private sector and the fresh graduates.

“Nigeria needs holistic
structural reforms for the education sector; the purpose of education in Nigeria
needs to be clearly defined, while issues of accountability and governance of
the sector must be given utmost attention.

“Nigeria’s curriculum must be
up-to-date with the rapidly changing skills-need of the country. To achieve
this, the Nigerian government must strengthen public-private approaches in the
review of the curricula at different levels.”

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